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Thinking Outside the Valentine Box

As a kid, I used to look forward to Valentine’s Day almost as much
as Halloween. I remember that every class at my school had a contest for the
best valentine box. Each class displayed their winning boxes on a table by the
front doors for everyone to admire. I think I was in the 4th grade before
I realized that many of the parents had a heavy hand in making some of the
boxes. Not mine. My mom helped me with ideas and finding stuff around the house
to use but she left the creating up to me. One year, I made a coffee grinder
valentine box, complete with a drawer at the bottom to put my valentines. I
remember making the hand crank and the funnel top out of foil and covering the
grinder box with pink flannel. It was cute but the drawer was rather small and it
didn't slide too well.

When I brought it to school and placed it on the heat
register that ran the length of our classroom, my friends pointed and
whispered. At first I took it as a compliment but in truth, they had no idea
what it was. The teacher surmised it was a coffee grinder but most of the kids
had never seen one before. After the judging, which occurred during our lunch,
I rushed to my pink coffee grinder to find that I hadn't won, not even an
honorable mention. During the party, after the valentines and treats were
passed out, my teacher came over to me and asked me about my box. She asked me
several questions about how I got the idea and how I made it. After she probed a second time if I was sure I made it myself did I realize I was being
interrogated. It felt worse that my teacher didn't believe me that I had made it myself than not winning
honorable mention. But it was a good lesson. It was just a silly valentine
box. From then on, my valentine boxes consisted of a shoe
box covered in pink tissue paper with a slit on the top.

23 comments:

You aren't really a "shoe box convered in pink tissue paper" kind of gal. In the short number of years I have known you, I have seen a lot of "coffee grinder valentine box" thinking. I'm glad you didn't really give up on that! :)

The creativity you showed in grade school came through vividly in your writing. The lesson you learned that day is one I hope teachers also learn from as they read your post. We need to respect "out of the box" thinkers and not make them feel the need to conform. :-)

Really, this piece reminds me that as a teacher, everything I say affects kids. I have many coffee grinder thinkers and I must remember to let them go and see where the grinder takes them. Too many kids are the tissue box thinkers--how do we move them to them to the coffee grinder thinking? Hmm. You've given me lots to think about.

Like I said to Elsie, isn't it weird what we remember? I worry about kids on days like Valentine's Day and Halloween. They so much want to have cool costumes and bring treats like all the other kids. And teachers are so wonderful about having things on hand so no one feels left out. I just wonder about it?

It's difficult to say it's a wonderful memory, but it is your memory, Diana, and it is wonderful that you are rejecting that teacher's opinion, at least now. I'm sorry you returned to the pink tissue paper box, I like that other coffee grinder thinking better, too. Great story to tell all of us who touch kids' lives.

I love your unique box with a drawer -- that's totally the kind of thing I would have done as a kid. I was always doing my own thing. How sad that your teacher didn't believe you and that you ended up conforming to the traditional box in the following years. Too bad that teacher didn't take advantage of that chance to celebrate your creativity! I bet you find a way to make those "coffee grinder box" kids feel special!

Wow. What a great story. I think most of today's teachers would have talked to you before the judging--I would hope so anyway. I don't think that really put a damper on who you are today--you're truly a stupendous survivor!